
I still have not completed the control surface construction guide.

I advise people NOT TO SOLDER ANYTHING to the control surface PCB until you read the finished control surface construction guide.

The reason for this is that you should use an UNSOLDERED control surface PCB as a guide for:

- marking on the frontpanel where to put blobs of JB-Weld (for gluing threaded spacers to the frontpanel). You put panel and PCB together and use a pencil through the holes where the screws go.

- holding the screws and threaded spacers in exact alignment with the PCB when gluing them to the frontpanel.

Then after you have a frontpanel with screws and threaded spacers attached with JB-Weld, it is best to solder the tactile switches FIRST and then use these (along with the PCB and panel attached) to aligning the LEDs in the panel holes so they stick out from the panel the same amount as the shafts of the tactile switches. (This is how I constructed mine).

If I have not explained myself enough, then please wait for a more detailed explanation in the construction guide.


**Avoid JB-Kwik PLEASE! Get the original JB-Weld! Do not get cheap imitations!**

Even the normal JB-Weld gets really tacky and gooey within a few minutes.

It takes a while to put a blob of JB-Weld on 23 spots on the panel, making sure the blob is neither too big or too small, and even with the non-Kwik stuff, towards the end the JB-Weld was a bit too gooey, like peanut butter instead of like honey.

Don't be impatient, you've just spent lots of money on these nice panels, you don't want to feel rushed in this construction stage when you're trying to be ultra careful not to make a big mess and connect the PCB and panels together slowly. I cannot imagine having a 4-minute countdown on my head trying to do 23 blobs on the panel AND THEN put the panel and PCB together. An extra 20+20 hours of just waiting (yes you need to do two separate gluing stages) might be torture but it is worth it in the end. Trust me, follow what I know works and there will be less that could go wrong.


**WARNING!! JB-Weld does not stick well to the panels from the first bulk order! This may be solved by sanding (roughening) the places where the JB-Weld should go. Please wait until someone has tried this method before gluing to the panel. Watch this space!**


**THE GUIDE**

For the impatient:

mark on panel where the threaded spacers will attach (put PCB and panel together).

**It may be required to prepare the places where JB-Weld should go, by sanding (roughening) the surface**

attach all the threaded spacers to the PCB with screws

insert some switches to PCB

put the countersunk screws into corners of PCB (with nut between screw head and PCB)

put PCB and panel together

hold together with four clamps

make sure thinks are aligned perfectly (check switches on panel)

JB-Weld the screws in the corners to the panel (use nut to hold it in place)

Check alignment of screws in the PCB holes

Leave to cure 24 hours

Take apart

put small blobs of JB-Weld on panel where the threaded spacers should go

put together panel and PCB (with the spacers still attached) using screws to hold it together. Use clamps also if PCB isn't flat enough.

Leave to cure 24 hours

Take apart

Insert switches

Solder switches. **Some switches overlap the LCD PCB! You must solder these on the top first then trim leads as close as possible.**

Insert LEDs. CHECK THEY ARE IN CORRECTLY ALIGNED

Put PCB and panel together, with all the screws

Invert, panel face down on VERY FLAT SURFACE!

put the LEDs in the panel holes. LEDs should be poking out same height as switch shafts.

Trim the LED leads to a few mm above PCB

Solder the LEDs.

Trim the LED leads shorter.

the hard bit is over... 

REMINDER: HAVE YOU REMOVED THE DETENTS from the ones that aren't the "menu encoder"?

If you are crazy and want to do illuminated knobs, NOW is the time to solder LEDs to the rotary encoders.

Mount the rotary encoders, check the right ones are non-detented.

Solder the rotary encoders.

If you are crazy and want to do illuminated knobs, NOW is the time to solder wires between the LEDs on each rotary encoder.

Test LEDs now if you wish... make sure you use a 1k resistor in series with 5v supply!

Assemble PCB, panel and front part of case together. Don't forget the LCD.

solder the CS PCB and base PCB with 100mil spacing ribbon cable (if possible). Work out the exact length you need with the PCBs attached to the case parts. Do it from the TOP side of the CB PCB to the BOTTOM side of the base PCB. This reduces stress on the joints. Allow for 90 deg. angle of the cable to the plane of the PCBs, i.e. bend wire etc.

Continuity check the ribbon cable. Make sure there are NO SHORTS between any two adjacent pins of the ribbon cable joints.

Now is the time you can temporarily tack some resistors to the DOUTs to check for brightness... if using normal LEDs, 220ohms can be soldered in directly, if you're using ultrabrights, superbrights, try 1k and increase to 2k, 3k as required.



__Altitudes Notes:__

I have found that the JB weld does not hold that well to the back of these panels. Roughing up the surface with light grit (800) sand paper and cleaning the spot with acetone will give you a much better bond.

For US (and UK ppl) since 1/8" size screws are not common, to make the whole alignment thing a snap you can use a 3/4" long 6-32 flat head screw(http://mcmaster.com PN:90273A151). 6-32 thread size happens to fit the holes in the PCB VERY snug so all you have to do is line up the board and the panel on two sides and the holes will be perfectly aligned.  

The two drawbacks: 

1: The 6-32 flat head screw is very snug in the holes so taking the board on and off is a little cumbersome 

2: The taper of the screw will bottom out on the holes in the top of the pactek case so you NEED to counter bore those holes slightly with a 90 deg or bigger counter bore so the panel sits flush with the front



Required Case Mods:

The right of L R LEDs in the upper right hand corner will interfere with the tab that the panel mounts to and so the corner of the tab should be clipped 


























